


Hidden Identity

by JasonMorganfan87



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Damaged Timothy McGee, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Physical Disability, Team as Family, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-09
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2018-10-30 02:39:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10867320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JasonMorganfan87/pseuds/JasonMorganfan87
Summary: After being forced into helping Trent Kort, an agent's secrets start to come out, as well as his connection to another member of NCIS that only one of them knows about. Will the team be able to look past this agents many secrets and will he even live long enough for them to confront him about it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In this story, Tim's sister, Sarah, was killed as a child, so the episode featuring her didn't happen. The story takes place in early season five

Tim was at his desk getting ready for the day. He'd just gotten there and was now powering up his computer. He was the first one there, aside from Gibbs. Gibbs' coffee was laid on his desk, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Soon, Ziva made her way through the bullpen and towards her desk. "Good morning, McGee."

"Morning, Ziva," Tim greeted.

"Tony is not in yet?" Ziva asked as she sat down.

Tim smiled. "No, you're earlier than him for once. You can enjoy a few moments of peace."

Ziva chuckled and started up her computer. "I assume we are doing cold cases again today."

"Unless we get a case, probably," Tim said

"Morning, Ziva and Probie!" the chipper voice of Tony rang out as he joined.

"Crap. He's happy," Tim said quietly. Tony being happy never boded well for him. Being happy just meant the man was in the mood to pull pranks, usually on Tim.

"Why are you so happy, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"Because, Ziva, I have a date tonight. I've been trying to get this girl in my building to go out with me for a while and always turned me down. Finally, she agreed," Tony said with a smile.

"You are rejoicing because you annoyed a woman into going out with you?" Ziva asked.

Tim snickered.

"Hey, shut up over there, Probie. And I did not annoy her into it," Tony said as he sat down at his desk.

"It sounds like that is exactly what you did," Ziva said.

"Okay, I'm not gonna let the two you ruin my mood," Tony said.

Ziva was about to say something else when she noticed a familiar face headed towards them. "He might be able to ruin your mood."

Both Tony and Tim turned to see Trent Kort coming their way. "What the hell does he want?" Tony asked. Nothing good came from Kort's presence. The last time he'd seen Kort, his car had just been blown up.

"Good question," Tim said.

"Hey, Kort, I think you're in the wrong building. Now I understand if reading isn't your strong suit, so I'll give you a hint. CIA has three letters, not four," Tony mocked.

"Cute, DiNozzo," Kort said as he walked passed him.

The three agents watched Kort intently. They expected that he was probably going up to the director's office, but instead, he stopped at Tim's desk.

"You need to come with me," Kort said.

"Excuse me?" Tim asked surprised. What would Kort want with him. Kort never bothered with him. Like most others, he didn't seem to think much of Tim, so what did he want with him now.

"You may be the most under qualified agent here, but I do believe you understand the English language. Let's go," Kort ordered.

"Like hell! He's not going anywhere with you," Tony said before jumping up from his seat.

Kort ignored him and looked at Tim. "Now, Agent McGee."

"I don't know what you want, but Tony's right, I'm not going anywhere," Tim said firmly. He didn't trust Kort one bit. He was not about to go God only knew where with him until he at least knew why.

Kort bent down and whispered something very low so that only Tim could hear.

The words had their desired effect. Tim stiffened and became extremely quiet. He looked shocked and also quite nervous. After a minute, he stood up and grabbed his jacket.

"Whoa, McGee, what are you doing?" Tony asked.

"You cannot go with him, McGee. You cannot trust him," Ziva said.

"I don't trust him, Ziva, but I don't have a choice," Tim said as he followed Kort towards the elevator. Kort had made it perfect clear that he knew everything there was to know about him and he would reveal it if he didn't do exactly what he wanted. This was information he couldn't have getting out. It would change things forever.

Tony and Ziva got up and followed Tony grabbed Tim by the elevator just as he reached the elevator. "No, you're not doing this! I don't know what he said to get you to agree, but you're not going with this bastard."

"This is CIA business, DiNozzo. Stay out of it," Kort said with a smirk on his face. He clearly enjoyed pissing people off.

"Do not do this, McGee. We will go to the director and she will stop it and find out what's going on," Ziva said.

"If that's how you want to handle it, fine, McGee. I'm sure she will have plenty to say once I've had mine," Kort whispered into Tim's hear.

"The director can't help," Tim said before pulling his arm away from Tony and following Kort into the elevator.

Tony and Ziva watched in horror as the doors closed and their partner left with Trent Kort. Tony then turned to Ziva. "We have to talk to the Director. Maybe she can stop them before they leave the building!" Tony said before running through the bullpen towards the stairs.

Ziva immediately followed. "What do you think this is about?"

"I don't know, but if Kort's involved, it's not good," Tony said as they ran up the stairs and into the main office by the director's office. They completely bypassed Director Shepard's secretary and into her office without knocking. As luck would have it, they found both the director and Gibbs in there.

Jenny did not look pleased with the interruption. "Agent DiNozzo, Officer David, I have a door for a reason and it's not so you can enter whenever you feel like it."

"I'm sorry, Director, but it's important," Tony said.

Gibbs stood up from his seat. "What the hell's going on?"

"Trent Kort just came through and he took McGee?" Tony said.

"What do you mean he took McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"He demanded McGee go with him. McGee refused at first, but then he said something to him, something we couldn't hear. It freaked McGee out and then he agreed to go," Tony explained quickly.

"It was clearly a threat. McGee looked very anxious and he said he did not have a choice. He did not want to go," Ziva added.

Jenny immediately picked up her phone and dialed a number. "Yes, this is Director Shepard. Agent McGee is on his way out with Trent Kort. Do not let them leave!

"Did Kort say what he wanted?" Gibbs asked.

"No. He just demanded that McGee go with him. I don't get why he would go. Why didn't he trust that we could stop Kort?" Tony asked.

Jenny hung up the phone and stood up. "Security will try to stop them, but knowing Kort, if he's not already out, he'll find another way. Let's see if we can't stop them ourselves."

Tony nodded and led the way out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Less than a half an hour later, Gibbs was waiting impatiently in Jenny's office while she spoke with the CIA. They'd searched the whole building and Kort and McGee were gone. Trent Kort had somehow managed to get his agent out of the building using some sort of force and that pissed Gibbs apart. He was going to tear Kort apart, as well as find out exactly what was going on with McGee.

Jenny was also extremely irritated as she got the runaround from the director of the CIA. "I want to know why Trent Kort smuggled my agent out of NCIS without my authority. Classified my ass! You know what I think? I think you don't know why your man did this and you're covering for him!"

Gibbs certainly wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. Kort was as shady as they came and he never followed the rules. He would go behind the Agency's back in a heartbeat. Gibbs wondered why.

"No, Director, I will stay out of Agency affairs because you people have involved one of my people! Here's what's going to happen. You have exactly two hours to either get Agent McGee back into this building or give me a reasonable explanation for his absence. If you don't, I will hold a press conference and tell every reporter there that the CIA has kidnapped an NCIS agent!" Jenny warned.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the tactic. Jenny was playing hardball. Not that he was complaining. He wanted McGee back and he didn't care how it was done.

"Don't underestimate me! I have witnesses that state that Kort threatened Agent McGee. The public will have no trouble believing me. Do as I've said or watch your agency fall apart!" Jenny said irritably before hanging up.

"What did he say?" Gibbs asked. He got the gist of it, but he wanted to know exactly what the man said.

"Well, he claimed Classified, which is a croc. I think Kort is working solo, at least where McGee is concerned. I don't know if there is a genuine mission involved, but I don't think they knew about McGee. Anyway, then he told me to stay out of it," Jenny said.

"And that's when you threatened him."

"It wasn't a threat, Jethro. I will follow through. I am damn sick of Kort interfering with this agency. I'm not about to let him get away with intimidating one of ours out of this building," Jenny said firmly.

Gibbs shook his head. "What the hell was McGee thinking by going with that bastard?"

"You have any idea what Kort might have said to get him to go?" Jenny asked.

"If I knew that, It wouldn't have happened," Gibbs said. If he'd known whatever it was McGee was hiding, it was unlikely that Kort would've been able to use it to coerce him out of the building with it. It wouldn't be a secret for him to reveal anymore. "I will find out when he gets back here, right after I tear Kort apart."

"Go down and have your team do everything they can to find them. I'll keep you informed with the CIA," Jenny said.

Gibbs wordlessly left the room.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was sitting in the car next to Kort and silence. He was very nervous about whatever this was about and kind of irritated by Kort forcing him into this. He hated helplessness and that's what he felt right now. He couldn't do anything to get out from underneath Kort and that made him feel cornered and angry.

Kort looked over at the man next to him and smiled.

Tim wat getting annoyed. That was the third time Kort had glanced at him with that smug grin. "What?"

"I was just thinking how genes must skip a generation. When I found out who you really were, I laughed. You are so unlike your family. I didn't know most of them, but from what I read up on, your father was the no prisoners type of person. He took names and made a name for himself in the CIA, much like his own father. Who would think that his son would be so cowardly and easy to intimidate," Kort said.

"You ever bring my father up to me again, you'll find out just how much my father's son I am," Tim said in a steel tone. Kort could mock his character all he wanted, but he wouldn't tolerate talk of his father, not from this man. Kort wasn't worthy enough to even mention him in passing.

Kort raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Well, maybe you do have some of their traits. You almost sounded intimidating for a moment. I wonder if certain things hadn't happened if you would be different. Maybe what happened to you and to your family is why you're so pathetic."

"Shut up, Kort! You have no right bringing things like that up to me!" Tim said angrily. Kort was beginning to get under his skin. What happened to him and his family when he was young was with him every day. It changed him forever. He didn't need Kort reminding him of it all.

"You know, it works in my favor that you don't want anyone to know, but why? Why not tell her the truth?" Kort asked.

"Don't mention her either! The topic of my family is off limits to you. What is is that you even want?" Tim asked. He wanted to know why he was being blackmailed in the first place. What did Kort want from him?

Kort didn't say anything for a few moments, seemingly trying to make Tim stew for a bit. "There is a terrorist group attempting to access information from our systems to use it to attack us. We know who some of them are, due to an informant, but not all of them and we don't know how wide it goes. We need your help with that."

"If that's all you wanted, why didn't you just go through the right channels to get my help instead of blackmailing me?" Tim asked annoyed. This seemed mostly legit, so he didn't understand why Kort didn't just play by the rules for once?

"Because after learning who my informant was, Director Shepard never would've agreed to it. You wouldn't have either. Besides, you should be grateful I went this route. She would've discovered the truth if I'd gone about it the other way," Kort said.

"Why? Who's this informant?" Tim asked curiously.

"You'll find out soon," Kort said with a smirk. It was going to be very interesting when McGee learned who his informant was. The younger man was going to be livid.


	3. Chapter 3

The team was in the bullpen trying to figure out where Kort and McGee had gone to, but so far they both had nothing. "I managed to do that cell phone tracking thing like McGee does, Boss, but his GPS isn't on. He must have shut it off," Tony said.

"More like Kort took his phone and shut it off for him so we could not track it," Ziva said.

"You put out a BOLO on Kort's car?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes, but he would likely anticipate that as well and figure out a way to avoid it. Plus, the CIA will likely find a way to put a stop to it," Ziva said.

"She has a point. The CIA will try to protect Kort. Well, they'll wanna protect themselves by covering up for Kort," Tony said.

"I wanna know what the hell Kort's up to. Track him and find out what's been doing and where he's been lately," Gibbs said.

"Boss, that would entail geek work and we both know I'm no good at that," Tony said.

Gibbs glared at him. "Then get help from Abby. Just get the damn information, DiNozzo!"

"Yes, Boss," Tony said before heading towards the elevator.

"Ziva, I want you to work on the McGee angle. I wanna know what he's hiding. When we find him, I need to be able to get him out from underneath Kort's thumb," Gibbs said.

"Where would I even begin. We know next to nothing about McGee's past, except that he was a Navy brat," Ziva said. McGee never spoke to them about his past. He'd mentioned his parents once or twice in passing, but it was never much. Now that she thought about it, he never even mentioned going to visit them.

"Start there then. Find out about his family. One of them must know what's going on," Gibbs said. Then out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a man in a suit heading from the elevator up to the director's office. He immediately followed. He walked up the stairs and towards Jenny's office. He of course bypassed her secretary and walked inside.

"Jethro, I see you couldn't wait for me to call you, not that I'm surprised. Special Agent Gibbs, meet Peter Green with the CIA," Jenny introduced.

"NIce to meet you," Green said as he offered his hand.

Gibbs didn't make a move to shake his hand. "Where the hell is my agent?"

Green removed his hand after a moment. "I guess you wanna get right to the point."

"I would as well. Now I'm assuming you're herr Mr. Green because your director knew I wouldn't like what you people had to say and he didn't wanna be the one to deliver the news," Jenny said. She knew a cowardly move when she saw it. Sending a lackey was such a move.

"It's complicated, Ma'am," Green said.

"I don't find it complicated at all. One of your coworkers came into this building and intimidated one of my people out of it and I want know why. If you don't give me an explanation now, I will make my promise to your director a reality," Jenny warned.

Green sighed. "It was never our intention to use Agent McGee. Kort mentioned it, but the director said that using an NCIS agent in this investigation was out of the question. he said you wouldn't agree and he wouldn't dare to even ask. Kort obviously went behind his back."

Jenny decided to set aside her questions about why the director of the CIA was so sure she wouldn't agree for the moment. She wanted to know exactly what McGee was being used for first. "You still haven't answered my question. Why was my agent taken out of this building without my authority? What is is that Kort wants with him?"

"And where the hell is he now?" Gibbs demanded as well.

"I don't know where they are now. We checked the location of our informant, but Kort must have moved him in anticipation. As to why, well, a couple of months ago, we started noticing infiltrations in our systems. We didn't think it would be a big deal at first. We've had people try to hack in before. A lot of it turns out to be your run of the mill hackers, but it quickly became clear that this was bigger. Soon we found out that terrorists were involved, thus creating a severe breach to National Security," Green explained.

"And you want McGee to help you find out who and where they are," Gibbs summed up.

"Sort of. We have an informant working undercover and he has some names, as he's worked with them before, but we still don't know a lot. Kort thought McGee could trace them the next time they tried to get in and find out more information," he said.

Now Jenny would ask the question. "Why would you assume I wouldn't agree to help?"

Green cringed in anticipation to the NCIS director's inevitable reaction. "Director Shepard, you have to understand that the CIA isn't like NCIS. We can't always put the bad guys away. Sometimes we're forced to work with them to bring down worse people."

"Get to the point. Who is this person?" Jenny asked irritably.

"Sebastian Acosta."

The room was so silent for several seconds that you would hear a pin drop. Then Jenny spoke in a quiet and frighteningly low voice. "What?"

Gibbs frowned at Jenny. He could tell she was livid. No, more than livid. She was seeing red. He didn't know who this guy was, but Jenny obviously did and the thought of him had her murderous. He could only imagine what Acosta had done.

"Director, I'm sorry…"

"You managed to catch up to that SOB and he's not in a maximum security prison or a morgue?!" Jenny exploded.

"It's like I said, this terrorist group was more important," Green said.

"More important? Sebastian Acosta is one of the worst men to ever exist! The man is a sadist! He killed one of yours and you have defected with him?!" Jenny asked angrily. She was ready to kill someone, and since Acosta wasn't within her grasps, she would take one of the people who were letting him walk. This man, if you could even call him that, was a predator. He was not the kind of person you made deals with.

Gibbs continued to watch Jenny. He could tell that whatever this was about was personal for her. She was so angry. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her with this level of rage before. What had this son of a bitch done to get her to this point.

"We're talking about terrorists here, Director," Green said.

"And you don't think Sebastian Acosta is a terrorist? You don't think a man who tortures and kills entire families, including innocent children, is a terrorist?!" Jenny asked furiously. She tried to keep the emotion from her voice, but it was difficult. This was very personal for her and keeping any amount of professionalism was almost impossible.

Green went to speak again and then thought better of it.

"You get my agent the hell out of this! You will not sacrifice one of my people to this bastard!" Jenny said firmly. She knew what Acosta would do to McGee and anyone else that interfered in whatever his goal was. She wasn't going to let that happen.

"Kort's gone off the radar. There's nothing I can do to…"

"You either do something or I will go to the press and expose all of you for what you are!" Jenny yelled.

"You can't do that," he protested.

"Watch me! Now get the hell out!" Jenny ordered.

Green sighed and headed out of the room.

"What the hell's going on, Jen. Who is this guy?" Gibbs asked.

"He's a monster in a human being's clothing. He belongs in the damned ground! I need you to get out of my office right now, Jethro," Jenny said. She was very close to going off the handle and she didn't wanna do it with anyone around.

Usually Gibbs would refuse and demand more information, but he could tell this situation had Jenny more angry than she'd ever been and ready to lose it, so he did what she asked and left.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim followed Kort into an apartment building. They had been driving for almost two hours before they finally got to where they were going, much to Tim's charin. Spending two hours in a car with Kort was not exactly fun for him, especially since the man couldn't help but gloat about having him under his control.

"Brace yourself, kid. This will be a shock to you and not a welcome one," Kort said as they approached a door with a guard on the outside.

"It can't be anymore unwelcome than you threatening me to get me to come with you," Tim said.

"You'd be surprised," Kort said as he opened the door.

Tim followed Kort inside. He stopped dead in his tracks two feet into the apartment. Standing a few feet away was the face of the man that still and always would frequent his nightmares. The man who tortured him and murdered his parents and his sister.


	4. Chapter 4

Tim could barely move for several moments as he stared that the man who destroyed his life. The memories came flooding back. Not that they ever really went anywhere in the first place. He never forgot one moment of that horror. He never forgot hearing his parents scream as this man tortured and killed them in front of him. He didn't forget watching the murder of his sister, which was at least much more merciful. And he certainly didn't forget the torture he endured at Sebastian Acosta's hands.

Tim shuddered at the memories of what this man had done to him and his family. He'd spent years after finally escaping him scared to death of him finding and tormenting him once more. But that had all happened when he was a kid. He was not a kid anymore. Not that he was deluded into thinking this man wasn't a danger to an adult. His parents were proof that he was. But now Acosta was alone and unless Kort was a complete idiot, unarmed. Tim was not unarmed. He could shoot the son of bitch right here.

Acosta sent Tim a smirk, telling him that he knew exactly who he was, probably informed by Kort. "It's good to see you again. You're looking much better since the last time we met. I see that you remember me."

White hot anger shot through Tim as Acosta spoke and he was once more confronted with flashbacks of the night that would forever plaque him. He replayed over and over how this man had murdered his family. Before he knew it, he was reaching for his gun.

Kort acted quickly. He couldn't deny his surprise when the young agent reached for his weapon. McGee was by far the most benevolent and frankly naive against he'd ever met. Even with their history, Kort didn't expect him to pull his gun on Acosta. But he adjusted to it quickly and managed to disarm McGee seconds after he'd taken his gun out. He then grabbed by the front of his jacket and pulled him out into the hall.

Tim fought hard against Kort, especially when he heard Acosta begin laughing at him. "Get off of me! I'm gonna kill the son of a bitch!"

Kort pinned McGee against the wall. "Get it together, McGee.

"Screw you, Kort! How dare you? How can you even ask me to work with that SOB?! No, actually, how can you work with him?! He's a freaking sociopath! He gets off on torture and murder!" Tim screamed.

Kort shrugged. "You do what you have to. The information he has on this and several other matters is worth bartering for."

"No, it's not! He's a killer! God, what is it with you people? First La Grenouille and now this son of a bitch?! What is wrong with you?!" Tim asked angrily as he struggled against Kort.

Kort laughed mockingly. "Your naivety never ceases to amaze me. You all at NCIS seem to have this delusion of putting all the bad guys away. Well, it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes you have to pick the greater evil. A man like Acosta may be slime, but his knowledge is invaluable. On the scale, what happened to you and your family was nothing."

Tim finally managed to pull Kort off of him and then he punched him in the face.

Kort stumbled back a bit, but quickly regained his balance and took hold of his jar. "Well, apparently you do have something in you resembling balls. Is it out of your system? Can we get to work?"

"I'm not working with that son of a bitch!" Tim practically growled.

"You will if you don't want everyone knowing the truth. How do you think your team will react when they find out you've lied to them for so long? How do you think she will react. Maybe she'll even blame you for not stopping it. After all, all you did was sit there while your family was killed," Kort said. He of course knew that every word was BS. No one would blame the younger man for what happened. As a child, there was nothing he could do. He was even sure they wouldn't be that upset to the lies. But McGee didn't need to know that. He almost definitely blamed himself, so it was easy to convince him that others would to, and that was certainly to Kort's advantage.

"Shut up," Tim said as Kort's words started to hit home. He was touching on one of the biggest reasons he'd never told anyone the truth, especially her. There were other reasons, especially in the beginning. He had been afraid after escaping Acosta that the man would find him resume torturing him to death. But now guilt played a prominent role. He should've done something more to protect his family.

"It's not like working with us or not will change what happened, so why not just give in and protect your secrets?" Kort asked.

"You're a piece of garbage, Kort," Tim said with anger, yet defeat in his voice.

Kort smirked. "I'll consider that your agreement to continue. "Shall we go back in?"

Tim didn't answer. He just led the way back in.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs walked into Abby's lab to see both her and Tony loomed over her computer.

Abby noticed Gibbs first. "Hey, Gibbs. We don't have anything on Kort yet. Hacking into Kort's movements at the CIA is difficult and Tony is no help."

"Hey!" Tony protested.

"Sorry, Tony, but it's true. I need McGee," Abby said.

"If McGee were here, there would be no reason for this, would there. But you can stop. We know what Kort's after," Gibbs said.

"Thank God," Tony said. Abby was right, he was no good at this tech stuff. In fact, Abby had already snapped at him a couple of times.

"Got something else I want you to look into. I want you to find out everything you can on a Sebastian Acosta," Gibbs said. He needed information on Acosta for two reasons. One was obviously because he needed to know the kind of danger his agent was facing, but he also wanted to know what the hell the son of bitch had done to Jenny. She clearly hated every part of this guy and he wanted to know why.

"Is he involved with what's going on with McGee?" Abby asked.

Gibbs nodded curtly and headed back out.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs made it back to the bullpen just as Ziva was getting off the phone. "You got anything, Ziva."

"Yes, but I do not think it would be appropriate to discuss it out here," Ziva said.

"Elevator," was all Gibbs said before walking towards it.

Ziva got up and followed her boss to the elevator.

Once they were both inside, Gibbs hit the emergency switch. "Well?"

"I do not know a lot, but what I do know is disturbing," Ziva said with a shudder. She'd just had a very long conversation with McGee's mother, well, the woman she'd up until recently thought was his mother anyway, and what she'd heard shook her. "I just spoke with McGee's mother. Actually, his foster mother. Apparently the McGee's are not his family. They took him in when he was thirteen. Jessica McGee found him unconscious in a wooded area. She took him to the hospital and later she and her husband became his foster parents."

Gibbs was truly shocked. He wasn't someone who got shocked easily, but this had shocked him to the core. He just couldn't imagine something like this happening to McGee. "What the hell? This isn't in his file."

"It was not in the dossier I was given before coming here either. Apparently, Admiral McGee covered it up as a favor to McGee. I am not done, Gibbs. When McGee was found, he was in very bad shape. Apparently he was severely abused. Actually, Mrs. McGee said the word the doctors and the police used was torture. Emotionally, he was even worse, she said. He refused to speak for a very long time and when he did, he never said much. He never even told them his name. Apparently, Mrs. McGee just started calling him Tim because she liked the name. He never corrected it," Ziva said.

"Oh my God," Gibbs said quietly as he rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe it. He'd thought he had prepared himself for whatever McGee was hiding, but this was beyond anything he had imagined. His agent had been tortured. How badly and by whom he didn't know, but from what Ziva had just said, he'd been hurt bad. You didn't refuse to speak your own name or even at all for a while unless something truly horrific happened to you.

"This has got to be what Kort is holding over his head. What kind of person holds something like this over someone's head?" Ziva asked angrily.

"He'll pay for it, Ziva," Gibbs promised. Kort was going to suffer in the worst possible way for using McGee's trauma against him. "I want you to get ahold of hospital records and Child Services reports. I need to know exactly what happened to him."

"Of course, Gibbs," Ziva said.

Gibbs flipped the switch and they got off the elevator. Gibbs then took out his phone and dialed Abby. He put the phone up to his ear and waited. "Hey, Abs."

There was a pause as Abby was obviously speaking.

"Yeah, I know you're not done yet. I need you to do something else. McGee's DNA should be in the system. I want you to run it and see if you can get any familiar DNA hits." Gibbs said. When McGee was a child they wouldn't have been able to do it. DNA was a new concept back then. But now, they might get an answer, and they needed it. Gibbs got the feeling that this all ran deeper than McGee simply not wanting to admit to a bad childhood.

"Abs, just do it," Gibbs said when Abby questioned his motives. Then he hung up the phone and headed for his desk.


	5. Chapter 5

Several hours later, Ziva was at her desk looking at the file she'd received on McGee from Social Service. She became more and more disturbed the more she read. She'd thought that after everything she'd seen while working at Mossad, nothing could affect her anymore, but she was wrong. The things that were done to McGee as a boy were worse than anything she'd ever seen or heard about.

Ziva kept thinking about McGee and the way he was now. He always seemed so normal and happy. How could someone go through what he had and not be visibly messed up for life. She had no doubt that he was messed up in many ways. No one could suffer such torment, but he hid it very well. Gibbs was wrong when he said McGee didn't know how to lie. He was very wrong.

Gibbs came through the bullpen at that moment with this third cup of coffee in his hand. "You got anything for me, Ziva?"

"Yes. Thankfully, Social Services were able to find his file somewhat quickly and faxed the information. Well, what they had left anyway. It was a long time ago. I am sure they lost some information. It is bad, Gibbs. What Mrs. McGee told me does not even begin to adequately describe what was done to him," Ziva said with sadness in her voice.

"Let me see," Gibbs said before taking the file from her and looking at it himself. "He barely got through half of the first page before he was sick to his stomach. This kid had been brutalized. There was mention of bruising on over seventy percent of his body, second and third degree burns in several places, several broken bones, deep cuts, welts, evidence of him being hit with a taser, etc. He was tortured, probably for a very long time. How was he even alive? "Good God."

"It is awful. How is he who he is? How can he possibly be the honorable man he is after being treated so brutally? And how could somebody do this to him? How could somebody harm a child this way?" Ziva asked. She could not understand how someone could be so cruel to a little boy. There was nothing worse to her than harming a child and these people had not simply harmed McGee. That was not a strong enough word. She didn't even think there was a strong enough word for what they did to him.

Gibbs didn't answer. He kept reading the file. He started reading the psychological reports, which were not pretty either. McGee was apparently mute for almost a year, probably not feeling safe enough to speak. When he spoke again, he said very little. He still refused to say his name or talk about what happened to him. He wouldn't tell anyone who hurt him. He wouldn't even acknowledge what had happened.

Gibbs felt almost sucker punched by all of this. He knew McGee had been hurt from what Ziva told him earlier, but seeing it in black and white was different. It made it more real. He never knew anything like this could've happened to McGee. Actually, reading this made him realize that he didn't really know McGee at all. Hell, he wasn't even McGee. His name was not Timothy McGee. He'd just started being called that by his foster parents. No one knew who he really was. Well, Kort probably knew. He was using it against him.

"Why didn't he tell us? I mean, I know why he would not just offer up the information, but why not come to us when Kort blackmailed him? It had to be better than giving into Kort," Ziva said.

"It's not something we can say, Ziva. Neither of us have ever gone through something so hellish. To him, it might have been better to throw in with Kort than to face a possible difference in how we treat him. Think about it. You gonna be able to forget this? You gonna be able to look at him and treat him the same way? Because I can't say for sure that I will," Gibbs said. Actually, he could say for sure that some things would change. For one, he would never head slap him again. He didn't know if it created any trauma, but he could not use any kind of violence against a man who had been tortured.

"So this is it. This is what Kort was holding over him."

"It's part of it. I do think there's a little bit more to it," Gibbs said. He had a feeling his gut that there was more to this story. That was why he was having Abby run his DNA. He had a feeling that who he really was was part of what Kort was using against him.

Soon Gibbs heard his phone ring. He immediately took it out and answered it. "Yeah, Gibbs. Be right there," he said before hanging up. "Let's go. Abby and Tony have something."

Ziva immediately got up and headed for the elevator.

Gibbs made a stop at his desk and put McGee's file in his desk so no one would see it before following Ziva.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Gibbs and Ziva made it down to the lab a few minutes later and saw Abby and Tony at her computer. "You get the DNA results in, Abs?"

"No, that's still running," Abby said.

"Why are we running McGee's DNA anyway, Boss?" Tony wondered. He'd been surprised when Abby told him that Gibbs wanted her to run the DNA. There was no reason to run McGee's DNA.

"Later," Gibbs said. He knew he'd have to fill Tony in, but right now he wanted to know what they'd learned. "What did you find out?"

"We have answers for you on Acosta and it's bad, Gibbs. He's a really horrible person. He might be the worst person we've ever investigated," Abby said grimly.

"I am not sure about that," Ziva said quietly as she thought about what McGee had gone through. She was pretty sure whoever did that was the worst person alive.

"Well?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"He's seriously up there as far as criminals go, Boss. He's been investigated for drug trafficking, embezzlement, and Espionage. He was investigated by the CIA many years ago. One agent in particular went after him strongly," Tony said.

"Who was the agent?" Gibbs asked.

Abby and Tony both looked at each other nervously. They both knew that revealing this information might come back to bite them, considering who it pertained to, but they also knew Gibbs wasn't going to let up until they told him. "This is gonna be like opening a can of worms boss."

"Because it involves the director?" Gibbs asked. It wasn't a big leap. He knew that Jenny had something personal against Acosta, so it was an easy conclusion to draw.

"Yeah. The agent was her brother, Jasper Shepard Jr.," Abby said.

"He and his whole family were brutally murdered by Acosta eighteen years ago," Tony said.

"Including his kids, Jasper III and Sarah. They were only twelve and five," Abby said with tears in her eyes.

Gibbs sighed. No wonder Jenny was so pissed off. Her brother and his entire family had been murdered by this man and the CIA was gonna let him get away with it. Her reaction was pretty damn tame considering.

"Well, we don't know for sure that the boy was killed. He was declared dead several months later, but his body was never found. Although, it seems unlikely that a guy like that would leave him alive," Tony said.

"This is awful," Ziva said. This was the second time today that she'd heard about someone she knew suffering greatly. First, she learned what McGee had gone through as a boy and now she found out that Jenny had lost several members of her family because of another monster.

"This means that McGee's life is in a lot of danger, Boss. There's no telling what Acosta will do to him," Tony said with worry

Gibbs nodded. "You and Ziva head back to your desk and do what you can to find Kort. Abby, let me know when you have the DNA results."

They all nodded.

Gibbs then headed for the elevator. Now he needed to talk to Jenny.


	6. Chapter 6

Jenny was in her office looking at a photo of her brother, sister-in-law, and niece and nephew. She had been very close to her brother and his children. It had devastated when they were killed and it never got easier to deal with. In fact, time made it worse. She would think about them all the time and think of what they never had a chance to see, especially her niece and nephew. They'd missed out on so many experiences.

Jenny started to get extremely angry again as thoughts of her family members' brutal murders resurfaced. She was beyond angry that their killer was still out there, but she was even more angry that the CIA, people her brother worked for and with were allowing it. They knew where he was and they were working with him.

Jenny was pulled from her thoughts when the door to her office opened and Gibbs stepped in. "Unless you have some news on McGee and Kort, please leave. I'm not in the mood."

Gibbs shut the door and walked over to her. "Don't blame you. CIA's treating your brother and his family like they were nothing."

Jenny was not surprised to hear that Jethro knew the truth. He probably had his team start looking into Acosta right after he left her office. She couldn't blame him for that. In his mind, he would've needed to find out about Acosta to figure out how much danger McGee was in right now.

"I never knew you had a brother," Gibbs said.

"He was already dead when we met. There was no point in bringing him up, unless I wanted to spend several hours feeling a lot of pain and anger. My brother was a good man. He was a great agent, not that the CIA gives a damn about that now. Apparently his years of service to them mean nothing. Neither do the lives of the kindest woman I've ever met and two small children!" Jenny said with anger.

Gibbs took a seat in front of her desk. "It usually is good people that are taken."

"My niece and nephew were only five and twelve. Jasper had just celebrated his birthday a couple of months before. I was there. I never thought it would be the last time I saw him, or any of them," Jenny said sadly.

"DiNozzo said they never found his body," Gibbs said.

"No, they didn't, but he's dead. That's something that took me a long time to accept, but I eventually had to. At first, I thought maybe Jasper was at a friends house or maybe he got away, but days went by with no sign of him, so that theory went out the window. I still couldn't accept his death though. There was no body and in my mind that meant he could still be out there. It took me months to accept the truth. If Acosta got his hands on my nephew, he wouldn't have let him live. I had to accept that," Jenny said.

Gibbs couldn't deny that logic, but something didn't make sense to him. Why didn't Acosta leave Jasper's body with the rest of his family? It wasn't to torment his father because his father was dead. Was it to torment the rest of the Shepard family?

"Jasper's death was the hardest for me, probably because there was no body. I accepted that he was gone, but…

"It was harder to move on without the closure of burying his remains," Gibbs finished for her.

"Yeah. It just still feels like it's not over because of that. It feels like I'm missing something," Jenny said.

"You don't have all the answers," Gibbs said.

"Story of my life. It was the same with La Grenouille. I knew he killed my father, but I didn't know how and I had no real proof," Jenny said.

"That's why you were so obsessed with him. You're not so obsessed with Acosta," Gibbs pointed out.

"La Grenouille was a possibility. I knew where he was to an extent and I had the power to go after him. Acosta disappeared after killing my brother and his family. I had no way of knowing where he was. Besides, there would've been no trying to take him down if I found him. I would've shot him on sight," Jenny said. Of course, in the end she shot La Grenouille too, but him she was willing to handle legally, not Acosta. HIm, she planned to kill if they ever met. There was no doubt of that.

"Is that the plan? I know you, Jen. You're not gonna just let him go when you know he's so close," Gibbs said.

"You're damn right I'm not. Acosta will pay for what he's done. I don't care what the CIA wants with him. He murdered… no, actually, slaughtered, members of my family and I am going to put a bullet in the SOB!" Jenny swore. She had no problem admitting this to Jethro. She knew he'd done something similar when his own family was killed. "However, first priority is making sure McGee makes it back in one piece. Any news on him?"

"On his whereabouts, no," Gibbs said.

"But you know something. Is it about what he's hiding?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs nodded. "Still don't know all he's hiding."

"But you know something. Tell me," Jenny ordered.

"Can't do that, Jen. This isn't something he needs going around," Gibbs said. He hoped to be able to keep what happened to McGee as a boy underwraps, although, that seemed like it would be difficult, especially since he was literally now who he said he was and his true identity would soon get out

Jenny glared at him. "I'm not about to start spreading gossip around the office, Jethro, but if I'm going to help get him out from underneath Kort, I need to know what's going on."

"Oh, don't worry. I'm gonna make sure McGee is out from underneath him and that Kort knows not to screw with my people again," Gibbs said firmly.

Jenny was about to speak again when they both heard a knock on the door. "Come in."

The door opened and Abby walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, Director, but Tony said Gibbs was up here. I would've waited, but this is something you need to hear too. This is weird, like really weird and it almost seems impossible, but DNA doesn't lie. It's actually what I like about DNA. It…

"Abby!" What's going on?" Gibbs asked before standing up.

"I got the results back for McGee," Abby said.

"You ran DNA on McGee?" Jenny asked surprised.

"Yeah, Gibbs asked me too. I'm sorry, Gibbs, I know you might not have wanted anyone knowing, but this is something the director needs to know," Abby said.

"What did you find, Abby?" Jenny asked.

"Well, I ran the DNA for a familial match, like Gibbs wanted. I wasn't really expecting anything surprising, but boy was I surprised. Timmy's related to someone at NCIS," Abby said.

"Who?" Jenny asked curiously.

Abby was quiet at first, but then said two words that would shock both the other occupants of the room. "You, Director."


	7. Chapter 7

Jenny stared at Abby in shock for several seconds at Abby's words. She almost felt she must have heard wrong because what she'd heard was impossible. "I'm sorry, Abby, but I'm going to have to ask you to repeat that."

"The DNA match for McGee was you, Director Shepard. The two of you are related," Abby said.

"Abby, I know you pride yourself with your accuracy, but you must of made a mistake. That's not possible," Jenny said. She was more than shocked by this. She couldn't be related to McGee. She would know if she was. She knew who her relatives were. This had to be a mistake.

Gibbs agreed with Jenny at first. He was shocked when Abby said that McGee's DNA matched Jenny's, and even though he hadn't known Abby to make mistakes often, he believed she must have. Then he thought about everything he'd just learned about McGee's past. No one knew who he really was. The name 'Timothy McGee' was given to him by his foster parents. There was also his condition when he was found. He was tortured by someone viciously, much like Jenny's brother and his family had been before they were killed. What were the odds of something similar happening to another family member of hers? He was the right age and the kid's body wasn't recovered. Gibbs didn't believe in coincidences. McGee was Jasper Shepard III, Jenny's nephew.

"Director, I reviewed the results over and over again. There's no mistake," Abby said.

"Abs, give us the room," Gibbs said.

Abby hesitated for a moment. She could tell that Gibbs had figured out what was going on and she wanted to know what it was, but the look he was sending her made it clear that it wasn't a request, so she headed out.

"Jethro, this is not possible," Jenny said once Abby was gone.

"Yeah, it is," Gibbs said.

Jenny raised an eyebrow and gave him a skeptical look. "You think I have some unknown family out there."

"No, not unknown. You knew him. There was no body, Jen," Gibbs said knowing that she would get the message.

It took Jenny seconds to figured out what he was talking about. "Don't go there. That is not possible. I won't even entertain the idea." It wasn't that she had some aversion to McGee being her nephew, but it wasn't possible. Her nephew was dead. she'd faced that fact a long time ago and hoping otherwise and finding out it wasn't true would kill her.

"It is possible. There's no evidence of his murder," Gibbs said.

"Acosta wouldn't have let him live and if Jasper had somehow escaped, he would've gone to the police or called me personally. He was a smart kid. He knew what to do if something happened," Jenny said.

"He didn't just let him go, Jen, and your nephew did not escape, not that night anyway," Gibbs said sadly.

"What are you talking about? What do you know?" Jenny asked with trepidation in her voice. Gibbs obviously knew something, something that made him think that McGee and her nephew were the same person and whatever it was that he knew clearly wasn't good.

"Didn't wanna tell you. Didn't want his personal business getting out, even just to you, but you're his family. You have a right to know. You need to know if you're gonna help him," Gibbs said. He would do his best to help his agent through the hell he went through years earlier, but Jenny would have the best chance to. She was his family.

"What is it?" Jenny asked nervously.

"McGee didn't have the life he's led everyone to believe. He's not even a McGee. That was the name his foster parents gave him when they found him," Gibbs said.

"What are you talking about? The McGees are his parents. He was born to them in Maryland. That's in his file, another reason he can't be my nephew," Jenny said.

"Everything in that file's a lie, Jen. Admiral McGee doctored it all on his foster son's request. we've got a real file on him from Social Services. I can't blame him. I wouldn't want anyone knowing if it were me either," Gibbs said.

"Knowing what?" Jenny asked.

Gibbs sighed. "Prepare yourself. This kind of stuff would make a stranger sick to their stomach. He's your nephew. It's gonna be hard to hear."

"Tell me."

"He was found when he was thirteen. That's the first thing anyone knows about it. He was in bad shape. He was tortured, badly. It was so bad that he did not speak for a year. He never told them his real name or about his family. It probably had most people thinking his family had done it to him," Gibbs said.

"What exactly was done to him?" Jenny asked.

"Well, you and I would both be hard pressed to find something more vicious. He was found very broken. There were quite a few indications of torture. Broken bones, burns, bruises. The list was huge. My thinking is that Acosta did let him live that night, but it was far from mercy. He let him live so he could cause him more damage. He wanted to torture him so bad that he wished he was dead," Gibbs said.

Jenny covered her face with her hands as what Gibbs was saying truly hit her. She kept imagining her twelve-year-old nephew being brutally tortured by Acosta for no other reason than because Acosta could. She kept imagining all the horrible things he did to him in span of a year. She kept hearing Jasper screaming and begging for it to stop, maybe even begging for death, only to be laughed and hurt more

Jenny's thoughts moved on to the young man she'd met just a couple of years ago. He was nervous around her from the start. She didn't think anything of it. That seemed to be how he was around people with authority. She figured it was just the position she held. But what if it wasn't? What if he was afraid that she would realize the truth? And if it was the truth, why the hell hadn't she realized? He was her nephew. She should've known him the second she saw him.

"Jenny," Gibbs said when she hadn't spoken for a while.

Jenny removed her hands from her face after a minute. "This is possible. My God, this could've happened."

"It did happen, Jen. Even if I did believe in coincidences, there's none this big," Gibbs said.

"I didn't recognize him. I looked at his face every day for years and I did not recognize my own nephew," Jenny said. She couldn't understand that. He was her family. She'd been around often when he was a child. They were close. She should've seen him as an adult for who he really was.

"Eighteen years is a long time and kids change. Not to mention that you thought he was dead. You weren't looking for him," Gibbs said.

"Oh my God," Jenny said as she rubbed her eyes. "This is true. McGee is Jasper. This is what he didn't want anyone to know. Why? Why wouldn't he tell me? Is he afraid of me?" Jenny asked positively stricken at the thought. She and her nephew had a very good relationship when he was a child. He would talk to her about things that he wouldn't talk to anyone else about. Him being afraid of her sat very badly with her.

"No, I don't think he's afraid of you, Jen. Maybe he's afraid of your reaction to the truth or maybe he's just afraid of being forced to deal with it it himself. He of course knows it happened, but no one's forced him to deal with it. You will and he knows it. I think he's gone to a lot of trouble to bury it and that ends as soon as you find out the truth," Gibbs said.

Jenny had to admit that that was likely. He had had his personnel file completely doctored so that no one would learn the truth. He was trying to make it go away, even to himself, though that went out the window as soon as Kort forced him to go with him.

It was in that moment that Jenny realized the sheer horror of the situation. Her nephew was back in the hands of Sebastian Acosta right now with only Kort looking out for him. She needed to find him before that SOB did something else

Jenny picked up her phone.

"Who are you calling?" Gibbs asked.

"The CIA again. If they give me the runaround again, I'm going to get in touch with every contact I have to put a stop to this. I'm not playing games anymore. I'm going to get my nephew out of the hands of that bastard and then I'm going to kill Trent Kort," Jenny practically growled. She wanted Acosta as well, even more so, but Kort was not going to get away with this. He had exploited her nephew for his ends and she was going to make him pay for that.


	8. Chapter 8

True to her word, Jenny had started pulling contacts once she struck out with the CIA. The cowardly director wouldn't even get on the phone with her this time, probably knowing the truth about her nephew and not wanting to deal with her, so after giving his assistant a piece of her mind for having the bad luck of delivering the news of her boss' cowardice, she got on the phone with a military friend of her brother's, who was now standing in front of her, General Alan Harper. "Thanks for coming, Alan. I know it's getting close to dinner time and you'd probably rather be at home with your wife."

"Don't even mention it, Jenny. Jay was a good friend and I'll do whatever I can to help his sister," Harper said.

"I appreciate that. Jay is why I asked you here. Well, actually, his son is," Jenny said.

"Has Jasper's remains finally been recovered?" Harper asked.

"No, and they won't be because there are no remains. Jasper is still alive," Jenny said. Then she waited for the disbelief she knew was coming. Her nephew being alive after all this time and with what happened at his home eighteen years ago was unbelievable.

"He is?" Harper asked with great skepticism in his voice. He seemed a bit afraid to voice his disbelief though.

"I haven't gone insane, Alan. I have proof," Jenny said. There was no anger in her voice. She didn't blame him one bit for being hesitant to believe her. She hadn't believed it right away either. She didn't see how it was possible. It wasn't until Jethro explained that she believed him.

"Proof?"

Jenny nodded. "There's DNA evidence and circumstantial evidence to prove it. He uses a different name now, but it's Jasper."

Harper sat down on of the chairs. "I don't understand. Acosta let him go when he killed everyone else that night?"

"No, he didn't let him go. He decided to make torturing my nephew a sport," Jenny said with anger in her voice. She thought about just the vague information that Gibbs had given her and that was enough to send her into a rage. She was going to kill Acosta for what he'd done to her family. "Somehow Jasper escaped him and made it to a family that took him in. he never spoke of his past, which is why we never found him."

"My God. You're sure?"

"Yes. I found out a couple hours ago. I haven't gotten to talk to him about it yet because he's missing and in trouble," Jenny said.

"What do you need, Jenny," Harper asked immediately, ready to do whatever it took to help his friend's son.

"The CIA has lost their minds! They've decided to deal with Acosta. They're getting him to help with bringing down terrorists in exchange for his freedom," Jenny said.

Harper huffed. "That's gotta be the craziest thing I've ever heard, but i wish I could say it surprised me. No offense to Jay or the few decent people I know who work or have worked in the CIA, but most of them are idiots. How is Jasper involved?"

"You know of a man named Trent Kort?" Jenny asked.

"I've heard of him. He's a well-known CIA agent who many times uses less than legal or ethical means to complete missions," Harper said.

"That's putting it mildly, but you have the gist. He came here this morning and coerced Jasper into helping him and Acosta with operation they're on now. Unknown to me, Jasper was working under me using a different name," Jenny said. It still bothered her that she didn't know. She should've figured it out. Now that she thought back on it, she saw pieces of her brother in the face of the man she'd seen every day for over two years. She didn't understand why she never saw that before.

Harper looked pissed. "He's got a young man who was tortured by Acosta and lost virtually everything to him working with him?"

"Yeah, and that's something he will pay for!" Jenny said firmly. Kort was not going to get away with what he was doing to her nephew. He was going to pay for daring to think he could exploit him this way. "I have been dealing with the CIA all day and they've been less than helpful. They say Kort is working solo to use Jasper, which I believed at first, but now I'm not so sure. Either way, they must have some idea of where Kort would go with him and I need to find out. My nephew's life is on the line. I will not trust it to Kort."

"I have some contacts in the CIA that I can ask for help. I would be glad to do it and help with Jasper's recover if I can," he said.

"Thank you, Alan," Jenny said gratefully.

"Just out of curiousity, what about Acosta. I don't see you just standing by and letting the CIA whisk him away when this is over," Alan said.

"I have no intention of that," Jenny said. She meant what she said to Jethro earlier. When she got her hands on Acosta, she would not be letting him go, nor would she be arresting him. He was going nowhere but into a hole.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tony looked at his watch as he sat at his desk. It was almost six and there was still no news on McGee. He was getting worried about the younger man. McGee was right now with a known sociopath. Sure, Kort was there, but that wasn't exactly reassuring. Kort couldn't be trusted.

"It is getting late," Ziva said from her own desk. She too was worried.

"Yeah," Tony agreed.

"Is there any news on the BOLO?" Ziva asked.

"Of course not. Kort's a pro. He knows how we operate and he knows how to avoid us," Tony said.

"Gibbs is not going to be happy to hear this," Ziva said. It had been hours and they still had nothing. Gibbs would not like it. Hell, she did not like it.

"Nope," Tony agreed.

Just then the two were interrupted by a familiar voice. "Where's Gibbs?"

Tony and Ziva both turned to see Fornell standing there in casual clothes. "Fornell, what are you doing here?"

"A good question, DiNozzo, one I'd like the answer to. Your boss called me me here and wouldn't tell me why over the phone," Fornell said sounding annoyed.

Gibbs came through at that moment carrying coffee. "Tobias."

"Wanna tell me why I'm here at six-o'clock on my day off?" Fornell asked.

Gibbs nodded towards the elevator and led the way. He didn't bother to make sure Fornell was following. He knew he was. Once they were both inside and the doors closed, he hit the emergency switch.

"What's going on?" Fornell asked.

"Got a situation involving one of my agents, Trent Kort, and his newest project who also happens to be a sadistic killer," Gibbs said.

"Since he's the only one I didn't see, I assume it's McGee. Shouldn't you be dealing with the CIA ?" Fornell asked.

"Trying, but as usual, they're playing games and Jenny's getting pissed," Gibbs said. He didn't blame her. McGee was her nephew. That still seemed weird. Never in his life would he have guessed McGee and Jenny were related, not until he got the information on both their pasts and it started to merge. But he was related to her and the more that sunk in for her, the angrier she got at the CIA, especially Kort.

"Not surprised. They've been making a habit of interfering with NCIS lately," Fornell said.

"It's more complicated than that. First of all, have you heard of a man named Sebastian Acosta?" Gibbs asked.

Recognition appeared on Fornell's face immediately. "You're right, it is more complicated. Yeah, I've heard of him. Not many on the job back then haven't. Just like not many haven't heard of Jasper Shepard Jr. and his family. I'm sure you know now that Acosta murdered your director's brother and his whole family."

"No, he didn't kill all of them. Jasper Shepard III survived that night," Gibbs said.

Fornell frowned. "Where'd you get that idea? The boy wasn't declared dead at the same time as the rest of his family, but it was clear to almost everyone that he was dead. Acosta killed his five-year-old sister. Why would he leave him alive?"

"To torture him. He tortured that kid, Tobias. Got evidence to prove that. That doesn't leave this elevator. My team will find out simply because it can't be avoided, but no one else. He's been through enough," Gibbs said.

"Why do I get the feeling you know Jasper Shepard personally?" Fornell asked.

"Should start at the beginning. This morning, Kort showed up and forced McGee to leave with him," Gibbs started.

"Forced him how?" Fornell asked.

"He blackmailed him. He threatened to reveal secrets that you'll learn during this conversation. Anyway, after Jenny threatened to accuse them of kidnapping, the CIA finally informed her and me that they were using Sebastian Acosta to take down terrorists that had infiltrated their systems," Gibbs said.

"Are you kidding me? I know the CIA works with shady people, the business with La Grenouille is proof of that, but Acosta brutally murdered one of their one," Fornell said with disbelief and disgust in his voice.

"Yeah, so you can imagine Jenny's reaction. She demanded McGee back immediately, but they've been claiming that they had nothing to do with Kort using him," Gibbs said.

"You believe them?" Fornell asked.

"Not sure. They certainly have reason to lie if they did know. But that's irrelevant right now. McGee's in trouble and what matters is helping him," Gibbs said.

"Well, with a guy like Acosta, I can see why you're anxious to put an end to this, but what does all of this have to do with the Shepard boy?" Fornell asked. The piece didn't fit in anywhere. When did they learn he was alive and what part did he play? He soon thought about everything Gibbs had told him about Jenny Shepard's nephew and about McGee. "Wait, are you trying to say that McGee is Jasper Shepard III?"

Gibbs nodded curtly. "Found out a little while ago. As you can guess, Jenny is even more pissed since learning that. Kort has placed her nephew in serious danger and it's not the first time he's been in danger from Acosta. She's on the warpath." He'd gotten a front row seat for that. He was there when she called the CIA and the director refused to speak to her Jenny had completely torn apart his assistant.

"If this is true, why didn't McGee ever say anything?" Fornell asked.

Gibbs shrugged. "Don't know for sure. I have my guesses though. He was tortured by Acosta and he never recovered from it. He never dealt with it to recover from it. If he told Jen the truth, he would have to deal with it. She wouldn't let him hide anymore because she'd know that it would just destroy him."

Fornell sighed. "Alright, what is it that you want from me. I don't exactly have much pull with the CIA."

"That's not what I need. We will find McGee. Jenny's pulling every resource she has, professional and personal. We'll find them. What I'm worried about is what Jenny will do to Acosta when she sees him. She's already stated to me that she'd kill him if she saw him, and that was before it was determined that McGee was her family and what happened to him. Now I'd wager that she wants Acosta's head even more," Gibbs said. He didn't blame her either. He would and did take vengeance when it was his family, but he was alone. If he went to prison, there wouldn't be anyone hurt by it. It wasn't the same with Jenny.

"And you want my help to stop her," Fornell guessed.

Gibbs nodded. "Can't let her do it. I get her anger and thirst for revenge, but I can't let her possibly go to prison. McGee needs her, even if he doesn't realize it. She's all he has. I'm not sure I'll be able to get her to step aside when the time comes. Can't take the risk." Of course it wasn't just McGee. A large part of it was. McGee did need her. He needed her support and he also needed her fierceness to force him to finally deal with what happened to him. But Gibbs also wasn't willing to let Jenny go to prison. He cared about her and he wouldn't let it happen.

"So you want me to help stop it and hand him back over to the CIA?" Fornell asked skeptically. That did not seem any better, nor did it sound like something Gibbs would do.

Gibbs glared at him. "I'm tempted to head slap you for even suggesting I'd agree to that. Acosta destroyed McGee's and Jenny's lives! He tortured them both in different ways. He doesn't walk away again.

"So then what do you want?" Fornell asked truly perplexed.

"The CIA has admitted that Acosta has been involved with the terrorists they're trying to stop," Gibbs said.

Realization hit Fornell after a few seconds. "You want us to swoop in, grab Acosta and whisk him away as a terrorist before Kort and his buddies can do anything."

Gibbs smirked. "As a terrorist, he has no rights. Kort can't do a damn thing."

"Except make my life hell later. I'll take a lot of backlash over this," Fornell said.

"He's a murderer. He tortured an entire family, save one, to death. He has to be taken off the streets, Tobias. CIA can't be allowed to deal with him," Gibbs said.

Fornell sighed. "You will owe me big for this."

Gibbs smiled and hit the emergency switch once more. "If it makes you feel better, I'll get backlash too. Jenny's gonna be pissed when she realizes I've kept her from exacting her revenge."

"It makes me feel slightly better," Fornell said with a smirk.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Tim was sitting at the kitchen table in the small apartment with a laptop. That was where he'd been since Kort had forced him to come and work with him and the man who ruined his life.

So far things hadn't been that bad. They were far from good obviously. He felt sick to his stomach and angry as hell every time he saw Acosta and the evil smirk he would give him, but that was as far as Acosta had screwed with him so far. He thankfully hadn't said much to him. Kort, on the other hand, couldn't help but throw the offhanded comment out every now and again. But Kort was his only real protection from Acosta, since he'd taken his gun. Tim still had his rule nine, but it was hardly the same kind of protection as his Sig. Acosta was a career criminal. He probably would be able to best him and his knife.

Tim rubbed his eyes. He was extremely tired. He'd been going since Kort brought him. He didn't have to, in fact, Kort told him to sleep, but that wasn't going to happen. There was no way he was going to sleep with Sebastian Acosta so close to him. Letting his guard down around that bastard was suicide.

Just then Tim head footsteps from behind him. He immediately reached towards his knife and turned around. After seeing that it was Kort, he let go of his weapon and relaxed.

"McGee, it doesn't look like you went far, or got any sleep," Kort commented.

"I'll sleep when I relieve myself of you people. As far as I'm concerned, you were stupid to sleep with the devil in the house," Tim said before taking a sip of his coffee. He felt like Gibbs. He was already on his second pot. Unfortunately, it was no longer working.

Kort just chuckled in response. "Any hits."

Tim shook his head. "They haven't tried to get in yet,"

"They will soon," Kort said.

Soon they both heard footsteps and then Acosta entered the room. "Good morning, gentlemen."

Tim turned to his computer screen and willed himself to tune the son of bitch out.

"Acosta," Kort greeted.

"Kort. And of course, Young Jasper," Acosta said.

Tim barely suppressed a flinch. He hadn't been referred to by that name in eighteen years and he preferred it that way. He'd worked hard to let go of who he used to be. It wasn't being Jasper Shepard III that he had a problem with, of course. He loved his family and he'd always been proud that he was named after his father and grandfather. There was a time when he was worried that he wouldn't live up to it because he knew he was different than them, but after some reassurance from his aunt, he was okay again. The reason he tried so hard to let go of his name and the life that went with it was because he wanted to get rid of the pain. He wanted as much distance as he could from it. becoming someone else and hiding the truth didn't get rid of it, but it did help him escape it most of the time.

"You're not exactly 'young' anymore, are you? But you are the youngest with the name," Acosta said before laughing. "Actually, you're the only one alive with the name."

Tim gripped the side of the table and willed himself not to take the bait. Acosta wanted a reaction and Tim would be damned if he gave it to him.

"Tell me, what's it like to have the same name as two generations before you did. Do you ever feel inferior?" Acosta asked.

Tim bit his lip and began breathing heavily.

"You should if you don't. I've seen how weak you can be. I remember the way you begged for mercy. If I recall, you even begged for death," Acosta said.

This time Tim couldn't stop the flinch. He remembered that. He'd been sadistically tortured by Acosta and his men for months by that point. He wanted it to stop, even if it meant dying.

"Of course your father begged too, but for his life. He begged for yours and your sister's. Well, I gave him one didn't I. I spared you," Acosta said.

That was it. Any self-control Tim had was gone. He stood up angrily and grabbed Acosta by the shirt and slammed him against the wall. "Spared me?! You tortured me nearly to death! No. No, you did kill me. Jasper Shepard III died in that hell hole! You forced me to become someone else!"

Acosta laughed. "I don't remember telling you to adopt a new name."

"You took everything that was Jasper away from me! You killed parents and my sister. You took away the rest of my family too! I can barely even function around the only living family member I have left because of you!" Tim yelled in a rage. From the moment his aunt walked into NCIS as the new director, he'd been very anxious and nervous when ever he was around Jenny. He kept worrying that she would see through him and realize who he was. He couldn't have her find out the truth. Part of it was fear and guilt. He was afraid she'd blame him for what happened, just as he blamed himself. The other part was having to face what happened. He never forgot what was done to him and to his family, but taking on a new identity that no one knew was false made it easier to deal with. Well, more like bury. There were times where he could even convince himself for a few minutes that the lie was the truth. That would no longer be possible if Jenny learned the truth.

"That sounds like your issue, not mine. You should be grateful. You're the only one who's ever survived me before," Acosta said.

Tim stared at him for a minute. He could tell that Acosta hated the fact that he'd survived and if given the chance, he would try to rectify it,

"At least you were smart enough not to come after me afterwards. You disappeared and left well enough alone. Your father wasn't as smart," Acosta said.

"Shut up!" Tim growled. He wouldn't hear anymore about his father from this man. This man had murdered his father right in front of him. He'd made him watch while he killed his entire family, and in his parents' cases, also while he tortured them before killing them.

"He should've just let me be. He and the rest of his family would still be alive," Acosta said.

"Shut the hell up!" Tim screamed before pushing him from the wall and pushing him onto the floor.

It was then that Kort stepped between them. He'd let it play out at first. He enjoyed watching as Acosta provoked McGee and McGee slowly take the bait. It was entertaining to watch the younger man squirm with rage and disgust. But it would soon get out of control if he didn't step in. "Enough, Gentlemen. I think we should all cool down."

Acosta laughed and pulled himself up. "We are just fine, aren't we, Jasper?"

Tim glared at him murderously before walking out of the room and towards the front door. He grabbed his jacket from the arm of the couch.

Kort followed him. "Where do you think you're going, McGee?"

"For a walk to clear my head. It's in both your interests for me to get out of here for an hour or so," Tim said as he put his jacket on.

"Twenty minutes. If you haven't come back by then, I have a little chat with Director Shepard, known better to you as 'Auntie'," Kort said with a smirk.

"Go screw yourself, Kort," Tim said before walking out the door, slamming it behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Tony walked through the bullpen towards his desk. He'd just come from Abby's lab where he slept for about three hours. None of them left, but he and Ziva took turns getting a few hours sleep, per Gibbs' orders.

Tony found Ziva and Abby by Ziva's desk as he made his way to his own. "Hey, Abs. I was wondering where you were. You weren't in the lab when I woke up. Any news?"

"No, and I think if we do not find something quickly, Gibbs and the director might kill us," Ziva said.

"Yeah, the director's been kinda irritated and driven to end this quickly too. Do you think it's just because of her connection with Acosta?" Tony asked.

"I should get back to my lab," Abby said before hastily moving to leave.

A suspicious Tony planted himself in Abby's path. "Hang on, Abs. Do you know something we don't?"

"No," Abby said unconvincingly.

"Abby, you're a horrible liar. You're worse than McGee at it, What's going on?" Tony asked.

"I can't tell you. Well, they didn't actually say I couldnt' tell you, but I think that's just because they were shocked. I'm pretty sure if they hadn't been, they would've said I couldn't tell you," Abby rambled.

"Who is they?" Ziva asked.

"Gibbs and and Director Shepard," Abby said.

"And this has to do with why the director is much more determined to get McGee back than before?" Tony asked. She was of course always determined. She had been pissed that the CIA had interfered with one of theirs behind her back and she wanted to put a stop to it, but at some point, she became even more driven to get McGee back and stop Kort.

"Tony, seriously, I can't say. I'm pretty sure it's Classified. Well not 'if I tell you I have to kill you' type of Classified, but definitely big secret kind of Classified. I'm not even sure if Timmy knows about this. I do know that the director didn't know though," Abby said

Soon they all heard someone clearing their throat. They all turned to see Jenny standing by the stairs looking irritated.

"Good morning, Director," Tony said.

"Is there any news on J… Agent McGee?" Jenny asked with a slip slip up. She couldn't really think of him as McGee anymore. That wasn't who he was. He was Jasper to her and that was all she could think of him as.

"Not yet, Director," Ziva said.

"Then could you possibly explain to me why you are all standing around instead of finding him?" Jenny asked annoyed.

"I uh…"

"We were just…"

"You were just getting back to work," Gibbs said from behind them.

"That's exactly what we were doing, Boss," Tony said without even turning around.

Gibbs passed them all and followed Jenny upstairs and to her office.

"Twenty-four hours and still nothing," Jenny said once they were alone.

"We'll find him," Gibbs assured her.

"It's not finding him that I'm worried about. It's the condition he'll be in when we do find him. He's been in the same vicinity as that sadistic bastard for a day. God only knows what's happened in that time," Jenny said with a shudder.

"He's not a kid anymore, Jen. He's a trained federal agent. He can fight back now," Gibbs said. He couldn't deny his own worry though. One of his people was on his own with a known murderer. Sure, Kort was there, but that wasn't exactly reassuring. He just hoped McGee's training would be enough until they got there.

"My brother was trained too," Jenny said as she sat down behind her desk. "It didn't stop his murder."

"We'll find him. Have you given any thought of what you're gonna do when we do?" Gibbs asked in part to distract her from her worry, but also because it was something that had to be thought about. This didn't all end when McGee got home. HIs life would no longer be in danger, but he was still going to have to deal with a lot and so would Jenny.

"Not much. I've been too worried about making sure he does come back. There hasn't been much time to worry about the aftermath. All I know is that I will do everything in my power to be there for him. He's been alone this whole time and that's going to stop," Jenny said firmly.

"Good. He needs you, Jen. He can't admit that to himself because he's too busy trying to hide from everything, but he does. You're the only person he has left," Gibbs said.

"You know, I keep thinking about how he's been around me since I got here. He's acted nervous at best and downright afraid at worst," Jenny said. That hit her hard because Jasper was never like that around her in the past. They had a good relationship. He used to talk to her about things he wouldn't talk to anyone else about.

"He wasn't afraid of you. He was afraid of you learning the truth. He couldn't face you because he didn't wanna face the severity of what happened to him," Gibbs said.

Jenny nodded. "It's easy to hide the truth even from yourself when no one else knows about it. He remembers what happened, but he can push it to a distance. That's what you were saying last night.

"Yeah, and like I said, he knows that once you know the truth, that ends. You won't let it go on," Gibbs said.

"I can't. He may think it does, but hiding from the truth doesn't make anything better. He has to face the severity of what happened to him if he ever wants to heal. I have to make him deal with it," Jenny said.

"I'll do whatever I can to help," Gibbs said. He cared about Jenny and Tim in different ways. He wanted to be there for the both of them.

"I keep wondering if he saw. We both know that Acosta did a number on him physically, but I wonder if that's where it ends of if he saw it happen. Did he watch as his family was murdered?" Jenny asked. She prayed to God that the answer to that question was no. She couldn't imagine the horror that would be for a little boy. It would be hard for an adult if it was just a stranger, but for a twelve-year-old boy to watch his parents and his baby sister be murdered would be devastating and life changing.

"I wouldn't put it past someone like Acosta to force him to watch," Gibbs said. He hoped his agent hadn't seen something that horrible as a kid, but his gut told him that hoping anything with McGee wasn't gonna get him far. It had already been proven that the younger man had no good luck as a kid.

Just then, Jenny's phone began to ring. She quickly composed herself and got into full director mode before answering the phone. "Director Shepard. What? Oh, that's great," she said before quickly grabbing a pen and a piece of stationary. She quickly jotted something down. "Thank you, Alan."

"What's going on?" Gibbs asked once she hung up.

"That was a friend of my brother's. He used a contact he has in the CIA to get me a list of CIA safe houses. He's faxing them now. He also gave me an address for a personal apartment Kort has," Jenny said as she handed him the slip of paper.

Gibbs looked at it. "This is a couple of hours away, and if it's a personal place, Kort probably thinks we wouldn't find it. We'll check this place first."

"No, we'll check them all at once. I'm gonna send agents to the other locations as soon as the list comes in. Grab your team. We leave as soon as I can arrange that," Jenny said as she pulled her gun from her desk and strapped it on. She was going as well. She trusted her agents, especially Gibbs and his team, but this was her nephew and would not sit at her desk while he was in danger.

Gibbs nodded and left the room. He waited until he was out in the hall and then dialed a number. He put the phone to his ear and waited. "Tobias, it's me. Got an address for you. You need to be there before us."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim was gone much longer than twenty minutes. He decided to call Kort's bluff slightly. He didn't believe Kort would go to Jenny now, not unless Tim backed out completely. Kort knew that if he did, it all ended. Any leverage he had would be gone and Jenny wouldn't allow the mission to continue. It was in his best interest not to say a thing.

The first thing Tim noticed when he got back to the apartment was that the guard stationed outside wasn't there. He didn't really think anything of it at the time. He was probably inside with Kort.

Of course that notion when out the window as soon as he stepped inside and saw the agent laying lifeless on the floor

Tim had an involuntary flashback from years earlier. He remembered looking on in horror at his parents and his sister's bodies. That was of course after having to watch them all die. He'd been held in a firm grip by two men as his parents were murdered brutally right in front of him. No matter how many times he tried, he could never get their screams out of his head. Sarah's death had been much quicker. In fact, she was asleep while it happened and never knew a thing. But it was all traumatizing to his twelve-year-old self.

Tim was so engrossed in his horrible memories that he didn't see Acosta come up from behind him. He felt the blow to the head and then he was out.


	11. Chapter 11

Gibbs pulled the car up to the apartment building that he hoped would hold Kort, McGee, and Acosta. The first thing he saw was the FBI vehicles and a few agents by it. He wasn't surprised by it. He had after all asked Fornell to come and get there first so that he could get Acosta out before Jen had a chance to take her revenge.

Jenny, however, was surprised. In fact, seeing the FBI there scared her. She figured that something must have happened to get them there and that made her afraid for her nephew.

Tony and Ziva were in the backseat and they were also surprised to see the FBI. "How the hell are the FBI involved?" Tony asked.

Gibbs quickly pulled the car up to the front, as Jenny was already taking her seat belt off to get out. He had no doubt that she would get out while he was driving if he didn't.

Jenny was out of the car seconds after the car came to a complete stop and was rushing to the front door.

Gibbs and the rest of the team got out and followed. They walked down to the end of the hall where an open door was. They saw the agents as they looked inside.

Jenny's face blanched at the dead body she saw just inside. If she wasn't afraid for Jasper before, she was terrified for him now. The odds of a murder occurring in the same building Kort held residence and it not having to do with Acosta were slim to none, and if Acosta had killed this man, what had he done to her nephew. "Oh, God."

Fornell came over a second later. "We were too late. Neither Acosta or McGee were here when we got here."

Jenny didn't bother asking how Fornell even knew about Accosta or the situation with Jasper. She really didn't care. All she cared about was finding her nephew's safety right now. "What exactly happened? What did you find when you got here?" Jenny asked.

"You're looking at it. We found this guy dead. There was no one else here. However, we did find a small amount of blood a few feet away from him," Fornell said.

Jenny shuddered. She felt like that blood had to belong to Jasper. The way Fornell had said it made it sound like it wasn't the murder victim's, so who else's would it be. "How small?"

"It wasn't a lot. Not enough to be overly concerned," Fornell said.

"He's in the hands of sadistic killer. I think that's reason enough to be concerned," Jenny said.

"He might not be. Kort said McGee left the apartment at some point and that he hadn't seen him since. Maybe Acosta hurt himself at some point," Fornell said.

"Kort? Kort's here? Where the hell is he?" Jenny demanded to know. She was going to destroy him for this. He was the reason for all of this. If anything happened to her nephew, it was his fault and she was going to make him regret ever meeting either of him.

"He's in the kitchen," Fornell told her.

With a determined and pissed off look on her face, Jenny stalked towards the kitchen.

Fornell looked at Gibbs. "She's gonna rip him apart."

"Yup, and I'm gonna help her," Gibbs said before following her.

Tony and Ziva exchanged confused looks over the increasingly weird behavior of their director and followed her and Gibbs.

Jenny glared the second she say Kort and advanced towards him. "You son of a bitch."

"Hello, Director, Gibbs," Kort greeted.

"Where the hell is he?" Jenny demanded to know.

"Did you miss my dead colleague? I don't know where either of them are," Kort said.

"And where the hell were you when your man was being murdered and mine was kidnapped,"

"I was called by an informant on another case. And kidnapping is a stretch at this point. McGee was not here when I left. He had a meltdown and walked out. For all I know, he never came back," Kort said. He highly doubted that scenario though. McGee liked keeping his secrets too much. It was more likely that he came back and was surprised by Acosta.

"A meltdown," Gibbs repeated.

"Yes. He let Acosta provoke him like an idiot," Kort said with a sneer.

"You made a deal with a sociopath and you think you can call someone else an idiot?" Jenny asked.

Kort sighed. "I'm not surprised that you don't approve, Director Shepard. I"ll tell you what I told McGee…"

"Stop calling him that! You know damn well that's not who he is!" Jenny snapped.

Kort looked at her for a minute, surprised that she seemed to know the truth, but he quickly recovered. "No, I guess it's not. Let's have it, Director. Have a go at me for torturing your poor little nephew."

Tony and Ziva both stared at each other in shock. They'd just heard Kort refer to McGee as the director's nephew, something that completely floored them. For one, the director's nephew was supposed to be dead, murdered by Acosta when he was a boy, and either way, they never would've guessed that a man they'd both known for years would end up related to the director.

If looks could kill, Kort would've dropped right on the spot from the death glare Jenny was sending him. "You little bastard! You walked into my building and blackmailed my nephew out of it right out from under me! You forced him with a man that ruined his life so badly that he felt he had to deny who he is! Now he's gone and it's because of you!"

"Acosta was disarmed. He shouldn't have been able to kill or kidnap anyone. I had no way of knowing he'd be able to," Kort said.

"If you thought that would stop a man like him, you're a moron, Kort," Gibbs said.

"How long? How long have you known the truth about my nephew?" Jenny asked.

"A year," Kort freely admitted.

"You were saving the info. You know when you learned the truth that you were going to use it against him one day," Gibbs said knowingly.

Kort smirked. "And it worked brilliantly, didn't it. He did exactly what I expected He was too weak and scared to face you. He preferred to work with me and a man he would've rather seen dead than tell you the truth."

Jenny stepped closer so that they were inches apart from each other. "I'm already more than tempted to shoot you, so I wouldn't say another word to insult my nephew. I want every property you have listed for Acosta now."

"That won't be happening, Director. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to the Agency," Kort said as he attempted to leave.

Jenny kept her position and Gibbs positioned himself in front of Kort too to keep him from leaving.

"Get out of my way," Kort demanded.

"YOu're not going anywhere. Agent DiNozzo, Officer David," Jenny called out without removing her glare from Kort. "Place Mr. Kort under arrest."

"Excuse me?" Kort asked as though he heard wrong.

"You're under arrest," Jenny told him.

"And what is it you think you're going to be able to charge me with," Kort asked with an amused tone.

"We'll start with kidnapping a federal agent, blackmailing that agent, and harboring a known fugitive," Jenny said.

"You can't be serious. Those charges will never stick," Kort said.

"We'll find out. Turn around and put your hands on the wall," Gibbs said.

Kort glared at them both for a minute before doing so. "You're going to regret this, Director."

"The only thing I might regret is not just shooting you," Jenny said.

Tony walked forward to search Kort. First,he took Kort's gun from his belt and held it out for Ziva, who came over and took it. Then he started patting him down. He stopped when he reached the other side of Kort's belt and pulled off another gun. He looked at it closely. "I think this is McGee's Sig."

"You disarmed him?!" Jenny asked in a rage.

"He tried to shoot Acosta," was all Kort said.

"If anything happens to my nephew, I'm going to kill you," Jenny promised.

Tony handed Ziva McGee's weapon and continued searching Kort. Once he was satisfied that the man was unarmed, he handcuffed him and read him his rights before leading him away.

"He's right, the charges probably won't stick," Gibbs said.

"No, but he'll suffer for a few days anyway. It hardly seems comparable to what Jasper has gone through and is still going through, but at least it's something," Jenny said.

"We'll find him. We don't really know what happened here," Gibbs said.

"Don't we? Acosta's decided to finish what he started. He was stopped from torturing my nephew to death years ago, so he's gonna finish that now," Jenny said with a shudder. She knew her nephew was in serious trouble right now. They had to find him fast because if they didn't, what she believed all these years would turn out to be true. Her nephew would be dead.


	12. Chapter 12

The team plus Jenny were all in the bullpen. A picture of the dead CIA agent and his history was up on the plasma. "His name was Thomas Adams. He's been with the CIA for five years. He left behind a wife and son," Tony said.

Jenny shook her head sadly. "Another family destroyed by Sebastian Acosta."

"And Kort," Gibbs said.

"Yeah," Jenny agreed.

"We checked Kort's cellphone. He did receive a call at around the time he said. It could be true that he was being truthful when he said he got that call from his informant," Ziva said.

"Didn't think he was lying anyway. McGee didn't finish what Kort wanted him to. He wouldn't have handed him over to Acosta," Gibbs said.

"I don't really care. Whether Kort wanted this to happen or not, it did. He's responsible for this whole thing," Jenny said with anger in her voice.

"I'm not arguing that point," Gibbs said.

"Well, he's in holding now, so he's definitely suffering somewhat," Tony said. He couldn't help but feel some satisfaction from arresting Kort and putting him into a cell. He hated Kort's guts. First the bastard had blown up his car, which he was very lucky not to be in, and now he was responsible for McGee being taken prisoner by a psycho.

"Not nearly enough," Jenny said. She was beyond pissed at Kort. He'd put Jasper in danger and used his fears against him. She already regretted not shooting him instead of arresting him.

"And most likely not for long. Kort will wrestle his way out," Ziva said.

"Weasle," Tony corrected.

"Maybe that's true, but I will get something out of it before he does," Jenny said. She'd arrested Kort for two reasons. Well, okay, at the time it was only one reason and that was because she was royally pissed and wanted him to suffer for putting her nephew in danger and exploiting his pain and fear, but after doing it, it occurred to her that it might also work to their advantage. She had no doubt that Kort would get away with what he'd done, but she was going to make the CIA work with her before he did.

"You think you can get us to help us find McG…" Tony trailed off when he went to say his teammate's name. The director had nearly bit Kort's head off when he said it because to her that wasn't who he was. He was her nephew. That seriously threw Tony. If he'd heard it from someone other than the director herself, he probably would've laughed it off as the most funny joke in the world. But he knew it was not a joke. Jenny was on the warpath. She was ready to mow down anybody who stopped her from saving McGee and she'd made it clear that it was not because he was just an agent.

Jenny could tell what Tony was thinking about. "Let's take this up to my office."

They all nodded and followed her upstairs. They all filed inside and as the last one in, Gibbs closed the door.

Jenny motioned towards the table before sitting down at the end near the door. Tony and Ziva took the two middle chairs across from each other and Gibbs sat at the other end. "Alright, we're not going to pretend that the two of you didn't hear everything I said to Kort earlier. Who you know as Timothy McGee is really my nephew, Jasper Shepard III. That's a fact that no one but he knew until very recently.

"This is the other part of what Kort was using against him," Ziva said. She knew the other part. McGee's tortured childhood played a large factor, but the truth about his connection to the director must have the main reason.

"Wait, what was the first part?" Tony wondered. He knew of no other reason McGee would submit to Kort, and actually he didn't really understand this reason either. Why hide that he was related to the director. It wasn't as if she had something against him. She'd been quite driven to save him since she learned the truth.

Jenny decided to ignore Tony's question for the time being and answer Ziva's. "Yes. He didn't want his identity to get out even to me and Kort used that against him.

"But why? Why wouldn't he want you to know the truth, Director," Tony asked.

"Let's leave it at severe trauma," Jenny said. She wasn't going to divulge her nephew's past. She didn't agree with him keeping the secret of his identity from her, but she certainly didn't blame him for wanting to keep what was done to him from the people he worked with. No one wanted those kind of things getting out. She was his family. She would do whatever it took to protect him and his privacy.

Tony didn't wanna leave it at that. He wanted to question the director further, but not even he was that bold. All it would result in was her biting his head off. Besides, it wasn't really hard to figure out on his own the kind of things McGee must have gone through. He'd seen the file on what Acosta had done to McGee's family. He'd murdered them all, his parents very brutally. Then McGee, or rather, Jasper Shepard, was presumed dead because he hadn't been seen since that night. He didn't just walk away on his own and hide at the age of twelve. He was removed from that house by Acosta and God only knew what was done to him.

"This conversation is not to be repeated to anyone outside your team. He is not going to come back to find that all his secrets have been outed to the entire agency. Is that understood?" Jenny asked firmly. She knew eventually she would have to disclose her relationship with Jasper to the agency, but that was not going to happen while he was out there fighting for his life if she could help it.

"Yes, Ma'am," Tony said immediately.

"Yes, Director," Ziva followed with right afterwards.

"Good. You're both free to go. Get back to work. Find him," Jenny ordered.

They both nodded and got up.

Jenny waited until they were both gone and then got up and went to her desk.

Gibbs got up as well. "You alright."

"Nope," Jenny answered honestly before taking a sip from a bottled water that was on her desk. She really wished there was some form of alcohol in it right now, but she conceded that intoxication wouldn't help right now.

"Don't give up, Jen. We will find him and he will be okay. He doesn't have permission to die and knows it," Gibbs said.

"Yes, because I'm sure Acosta will care about you demanding your people ask permission before they die," Jenny said dryly as she sat down behind her desk. "And I'm not giving up. I will never do that again."

Gibbs could hear the guilt in her voice. "Jen, it's not your fault that you thought he was dead. Anyone would've come to that conclusion."

"But he wasn't dead. If I had hung on, maybe I would've found him years ago and none of this would've happened," Jenny said. This had happened because Jasper couldn't truly face what happened to him. He couldn't deal with who he really was because that meant dealing more with what the person he was had suffered. Kort had used that against him and it led to this. If he'd been found earlier, Kort wouldn't have had any leverage to do that and none of this would be happening.

"First of all, you don't know that, and second, Kort would've found another way. We both know he wouldn't have given up until he got what he wanted. Besides, playing this game never helped anyone. Trust me, I've done the 'what if' thing before and all it does is torture you," Gibbs said.

Jenny rubbed her eyes and sighed. "I need to be alone for a while."

Gibbs nodded after a minute and headed out. He knew there was nothing else he could say right now.


	13. Chapter 13

Gibbs walked into Autopsy to see Ducky working on the body of the CIA agent, Thomas Adams. He'd had the FBI transfer the body to them. Hey, Duck."

"Jethro, I knew it wouldn't be long before you showed up. I'm far from finished, but I don't expect many surprises. Mr. Adams suffered multiple stabwounds to the abdomen," Ducky said.

"How about TOD?" Gibbs asked. Establishing time of death would give them a better grasp on exactly when Acosta had taken McGee.

"I'd say between eleven and twelve this morning. I hear that Timothy may have been taken by the same person who killed this man," Ducky said.

"You heard right. McGee was taken hostage by Sebastian Acosta not long afterwards," Gibbs said.

Ducky sighed. "I was hoping that that rumor was incorrect. I've also heard that the director has taken this whole thing a bit personally."

Gibbs debated for a minute. It was very personal information that he knew Jenny didn't want becoming public before she at least got a chance to talk to McGee, but Ducky cared a lot about McGee and deserved to know. Besides, Jenny had just said not to discuss it outside the team. Ducky was a part of their team as far as Gibbs was concerned. "Yeah, she has, with good reason. McGee is her nephew."

Ducky looked at Gibbs in surprise, not at all expecting that answer. "Good God! You're sure?"

Gibbs nodded curtly. "Circumstances make sense and his DNA is familial match to hers. Oh, and Kort admitted to using it against him."

"Jennifer didn't know about this?" Ducky asked surprised.

"No, not until yesterday. She hadn't seen him since he was a boy and he uses a different name now," Gibbs said.

"Why would he do that?" Ducky asked in utter confusion.

Gibbs began explaining about what Acosta had done to McGee's family and then to him when he was a child. "He's messed up, Ducky. What that son of a bitch did to him and his family ruined his life. He doesn't wanna face it. He's trying to forget."

Ducky was horrified. No, actually, that wasn't a strong enough word. He wasn't even sure there was a strong enough word for how tragic and evil what he just heard was. "That is awful, Jethro. How does one so young survive something so terrible?"

"He's stronger than anyone gave him credit for, that's for sure. He's still dealing with it though. Well, actually, he's not and that's a big problem. He's trying to hide from it. But that's something that can only be dealt with after we find him," Gibbs said.

"How is Jennifer handling all of this?" Ducky said. He couldn't see her handling it well. In less than twenty-four hours, she'd found out that one of her subordinates was family, that he'd been severely tortured as a boy, and was now in the hands of his tormentor again.

Gibbs sighed. "She's angry and scared. She's captivating on anger now, but I don't think she'll be able to keep that up much longer. He's the only family she's got left and she's terrified for him. She's headed for a meltdown soon."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Jenny was in her office with the Assistant Director of the CIA. "Well, Assistant Director, Mathias, I guess I have finally gotten enough of your boss' attention to send you as opposed to a lackey, though I still can't help noticing that he doesn't have the balls to show up himself."

"You need to release Kort," Mathias said in a commanding tone.

"I need to do no such thing. Kort kidnapped one of my agents and placed him in grave danger," Jenny said.

"KIdnapped? That's a stretch, Director Shepard. He was not held at gunpoint. He left voluntarily," Mathias said.

"I don't call blackmail voluntary," Jenny said through gritted teeth.

"And the charge of harboring a fugitive? Sebastian Acosta is a CIA informant and you know that," Mathias said.

"I've seen no paperwork reflecting that. Acosta is a murderer amongst many more things. He's wanted everywhere," Jenny said.

Mathias pulled a folded document out of his pocket and handed it to Jenny. "Well, you've seen it now."

Jenny placed the document on her desk without even looking at it. "Fine, but the other charges still stand. Kort blackmailed one of my agents out of here and he will be held accountable for ti."

"Oh, please! This is not about one of your 'agents', Director. You are making this personal, both because of Acosta and because of the particular agent this involves," Mathias said.

Jenny sent him a withering glare. "So you're admitting that the CIA, and not just Kort, knew exactly who Agent McGee was to me and said nothing."

"It's not our job to solve your family problems, Director Shepard," Mathias said.

"You pompous little bastard! This whole charade was on all of you. You instructed Kort to force my nephew to work with him. You are responsible for his current predicament and unless you do something about it, you are all going to go down for it," Jenny swore.

"Is that a threat?" Mathias asked.

"I don't make threats, Assistant Director Mathias. It is a guarantee. I'm sure your boss has already told you about my warnings to go public," Jenny said.

Mathias gave her an arrogant smirk before pulling out another document and placing it in front of her. "Yes, he has and that's our response to it."

This time, Jenny took it, unfolded it, and started to read.

"You are prohibited from mentioning Acosta to the press or making any baseless accusation of kidnapping by the Agency," Mathias said.

Jenny just stared for a minute, taking in the assistant director's demeanor. He was very confident. He thought he had beaten her. Then she laughed humorlessly and tore up the document.

Mathias glared at her. "You think I'm joking? You violate that order and you will lose everything. Your career at NCIS will be over!"

"No, I don't think this is a joke. I find nothing remotely funny about this entire situation. I do, however, think you're an idiot if you think I give a damn about my job! You can hand me as many gag orders as you want, I don't care. I don't care about anything but the safety of my nephew. I will gladly give up everything I have to see him come home," Jenny told him. In the grand scheme of things, NCIS meant nothing to her. It was everything before. Nothing had been more important than her career. But that was when she had no family left. Now she had Jasper and she would do anything she had to to protect him.

Mathias blanched slightly. He wasn't expecting Shepard to completely sacrifice her career. Everything he knew about her told him that she valued her position too much for that. "You're bluffing.

Jenny gave him a smirk of her own and picked up her phone. "I think I should arrange that press conference now."

"No, wait! What do you want?" he asked through gritted teeth.

Jenny put the phone down. "I want everything you have on Sebastian Acosta. I want every property that you know about and every known associate's name. Basically, I want everything you know about him made available to me."

"Fine," Mathias said grudgingly. "But you have to release Kort and agree not mention any of this to the press."

"Agreed. Kort will be released as soon as all information is in my hands. Oh, and you have one hour to get it to me," Jenny said.

"You can't be serious. It'll take more time than that," Mathias said.

"No, it won't because if it's not here in one hour, I will go to the press," Jenny warned him.

"Deal," he said after a minute.

"Now, get out," Jenny said.

Mathias glared at her once more and then headed for the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim groaned as he began to wake up. He had a massive headache. He could seriously feel his head pounded it hurt so bad. His arms also hurt like hell. He felt them up above his shoulders. He tried to move them, but something strong and cold was keeping them in place.

Soon Tim remembered what had happened before he passed out. He'd found that agent dead in Kort's apartment, killed by Acosta. It hit him like a ton of bricks. Acosta had knocked him out and taken him hostage again. He immediately popped his eyes open and started struggling to get his hands free. It didn't work though. His hands were tightly chained above him.

"No, no! This can't happen again!" Tim exclaimed in a panic as memories of his last experience in a place like this with the exact same man came flooding back. He could not go through this again. He could not live through that terror a second time. He had to get out. Unfortunately, he had no way of doing that. He was defenseless. Well, that wasn't completely true. He could feel his knife currently tucked into his sock, but he had no way of getting to it or using it.

Tim struggled helplessly to get free. He had to get the hell out of there. He knew what Acosta could and would do to him. Despite his attempts to keep the memories at bay, he remembered well what that man had done to him. And now he couldn't even push the memories away like he'd been able to in the past. It was like they were happening all over again.

Tim soon heard someone begin to come in. He went completely still until the door opened, bringing with it a sudden burst of light. He immediately cringed and shut his eyes.

Acosta came into the room with an evil smirk on his face. "I'm glad to see you're awake, Jasper. I was getting a bit antsy. I wanted to play, but it's not very fun with the unconscious."

Tim's eyes were open again by this point and he was staring at Acosta's hand. Actually, he was staring at what was in his hand. It was a hammer, and Tim could just imagine what he planned to do with it. Actually, no, he didn't have to imagine. He knew. It wasn't the first time Acosta had used a hammer on him.

Acosta followed the younger man's eyes and laughed as he walked closer. "I see you've seen our first toy to play with. I know we've used it before, but I had fun with it in the past and I think you enjoyed it too.

Tim shut his eyes again and willed himself not to scream. He didn't want to give Acosta that satisfaction. Of course, that went straight out the window the second the hammer was slammed into his right kneecap.


	14. Chapter 14

Tony and Ziva were both combing through the papers the CIA had brought over a few hours earlier, per the director's orders. "Wow, this is really a twisted SOB."

"I will not argue that," Ziva said without looking up. She was busy looking up the names of Acosta's associates.

"The Shepards were far from his first murder victims. I guess Abby and I must have missed a bunch of stuff when we did our research. We got kind of distracted when we realized the director had such a personal connection to the investigation," Tony said.

"I am not surprised. The Shepards' murders were extremely brutal and without feeling. It would be shocking if they turned out to be his first," Ziva said.

"This doesn't look good for McGee," Tony said nervously.

Just then, Jenny descended down the stairs and came over to them. "I want an update.

Gibbs also came through at that very moment. "Someone better have something."

Tony winced as he looked between his two supervisors. It hard enough when just Gibbs demanded answers that they didn't have, but now he was being double teamed by him and the director. "Uh, well, we're still looking. We're doing everything we can to..."

"I may have something," Ziva said.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief as he was no longer at the mercy of his team leader and the director of the entire agency.

"I have been looking up the names of Acosta's associates. Most are either dead or still at large, but I found one," Ziva said before putting the information up on the plasma.

They all walked over to see it.

"This is Lucas Martinez. He was imprisoned ten years ago money laundering and drug trafficking. He is serving time about an hour away from here. Should we have him transferred?" Ziva asked.

"No. That will take at least a day. I'll go myself," Jenny said before heading for the stairs.

"We'll go," Gibbs corrected as he followed her.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

About an hour or so later, Gibbs and Jenny were sitting in an interview room as a man with dark hair and dark skin wearing a prison jumpsuit was brought in and seated in front of them.

"Let me know if you need anything," the guard said to Jenny and Gibbs before leaving the room.

"Mr. Martinez," Gibbs greeted.

"Who are you people?" Martinez asked.

"NCIS. This is Special Agent Gibbs and I'm Director Shepard," Jenny said.

Martinez couldn't hide the surprise and recognition when he heard Jenny's name. "I wanna go back to my cell. I have nothing to say to you."

"I see you know the name 'Shepard', no doubt because of your boss," Jenny said.

"I have nothing to say," he repeated.

"Oh, you've got plenty to say and you will say it," Gibbs said in a threatening tone.

"You think you intimidate me, Agent Gibbs? Have you ever met Sebastian Acosta? He puts the most dangerous man you've ever met to shame," Martinez said.

"You're the idiot who took up with him," Gibbs said.

"I didn't know what he was truly capable of. I had no delusions that he was capable of killing, but there's a difference between murder and the brutal decimation of a family of four."

"You were there? You saw him kill my brother and his family?" Jenny asked with rage in her voice and eyes.

"I...I didn't say that," Martinez backpedaled.

"You son of a bitch, you were there!" Jenny growled.

Gibbs put a supportive and restraining hand on her arm. While this piece of garbage certainly deserved his ass kicked, they needed him right now to help find Tim.

"As I've already told you, I have nothing to say. And if you wanna stay alive, you'd drop this. The last person who tried to take him down was brutally tortured and murdered along with his family," Martinez said.

"And you did nothing to stop it," Jenny said through gritted teeth.

"Damn right! I would've been next if I even tried, which is exactly why I won't be saying a word now. I have a family too," Martinez said.

"You have kids? You have a son?" Gibbs asked.

Martinez nodded.

"Jasper Shepard had a son too," Gibbs said.

"I know. There's not a day that goes by that I don't see that boy's face," Martinez said.

"Well, you're going to see it again," Jenny said as she pulled a picture from her jacket pocket and placed it in front of the man.

Martinez shuddered as he stared at the picture. "What's the point of showing this to me. This kid is one of the reasons I won't help you. All I need is for my own kid to suffer his fate."

"You're not like Acosta. You're still a waste of space, but you have a conscience. You hate what happened to that kid. He's haunted you for almost twenty years. You said yourself you see his face every day. Make it right," Gibbs said.

"How do you propose I do that. I can't bring him back," he said.

"You don't have to. He's not dead," Jenny said.

"You are delusional if you believe that, Director. Acosta kept him alive after that night, but there is no way it would last eighteen years. "

"He escaped. He got away and he managed to evade Acosta this whole time, but now he's in his clutches. You can help save him," Gibbs said.

Martinez laughed. "Save him? There's no saving him. Even if he's alive, you can't save him. What that kid saw alone would scar him for life. Let's not even get into what Acosta planned and probably did to him. He's ruined."

Jenny couldn't help but be rattled by the man's words. She'd tried not to think about the hell her nephew went through until he was at least safe, but it was nearly impossible, especially when he was in the exact situation. She knew he was seriously messed up. But she refused to believed he was, as Martinez said, 'ruined'. In fact she knew he wasn't. She'd seen him every day for two years. He might be messed up, but he was also a strong, caring young man and an amazing agent. "We didn't ask for your opinion on my nephew's state of mind, Mr. Martinez. Help us find him!"

Martinez sighed. "I don't even know where Acosta is, so I couldn't even help you if I wanted to."

"You know how he thinks. Tell us what you know," Gibbs demanded.

Martinez seemed to debating with his conscience.

Gibbs picked up the photo and held it up. "This boy had haunted you for years. You want him to for the rest of your life?" Gibbs asked.

Martinez sighed. "You have to swear that this conversation never happened."

"Agreed," Jenny said immediately.

"I don't know where he is, but I might be able to help you figure out where he might go. If taking your boy wasn't planned and it was something that just fell into Acosta's lap, he won't go far and he will probably be alone. That'll work in your favor. But you'll have to find him quick. Knowing Acosta, he'll prolong killing him for a little while to punish him for getting away, but he won't leave him alive very long," Martinez said.

"How long?" Jenny said with fear in her voice.

"Can't say for sure, but he usually takes a few hours with a kill, torturing them for a bit. I'd say he'll let your boy live a day or two at most," Martinez said.

Jenny stood up. "Let's go. We don't have long."

Gibbs got up and followed her to the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim screamed and convulsed in pain as electricity flowed through him from the taser that had been shoved into his neck. Acosta had come in to torture him several times. He would torture him for a bit and then leave him be for... Well, he didn't know how long, but wasn't long enough.

Tim was in agony pretty much from head to toe. Acosta had done a number on him. He'd slammed a hammer into both his kneecaps and his feet multiple times. Tim was pretty sure they were all broken, maybe even shattered. If there was any hope of escaping it was gone now. Even if he managed to get his arms free of the chains, he would still be unable to walk, and he doubted that Acosta was going to let him live long enough this time for his broken feet and knees to heal at all.

Acosta had also kicked him several times in the stomach, probably breaking several ribs and broken two of his fingers. The man had been just as brutal as he was last time and Tim was sure he was not done.

Acosta smirked at Tim. "You are not as vocal as last time. You're screaming good of course, but there's no pleading this time. Why's that?"

"Go to hell," Tim said in a pained voice.

Acosta laughed and pulled something out of his pocket. It was a switchblade. "Let's keep going."

Tim shut his eyes, knowing what was coming. It wasn't long before he felt a sharp pain in his arm and screamed out in pain.

Acosta continued to laugh. "I do love it when you scream. I've enjoyed it with everyone, but especially you. I think it was because of how young and innocent you always looked. That's why I kept you alive so long last time too. I enjoyed watching that innocence slowly drift away. I need to remember that I can't wait so long this time though. No, our fun will end tonight," he said before sticking the knife in his leg this time, earning him another scream.


	15. Chapter 15

Tony and Ziva were going through files to find out if Acosta had any properties near DC. The director and Gibbs had gotten back not too long ago and told them to look for someplace nearby. "Anything, Ziva?"

"Acosta does not have anything in DC anymore. He had a property years ago, but it was abandoned years ago and sold. There are a couple of places a couple of states away. I will call and have the local police check them out," Ziva said before picking up her phone.

Just then Abby came through the bullpen. "Any news?"

"Not yet, Abs. We're checking out Acosta's properties, but he has a lot. Unfortunately, none of them are in DC," Tony said.

"Wouldn't he leave DC anyway?" Abby asked.

Tony shook his head. "Not according to one of his former employees. He says that since this wasn't actually planned, he'll stick close and will probably be working alone."

Ziva suddenly had a thoughtful look on her face and hung up her phone. "He would also know that we would look everywhere for him, including searching all his properties. So would it not be more likely that he would choose a place he does not own?""

"Like what? Where's he gonna find a place to torture somebody to death," Tony asked.

"An abandoned building or something. Is there anything like that near Kort's secret apartment?" Abby asked.

"I don't know. I guess we should find out, I'm not really sure how though. It's not like abandoned buildings are advertised," Tony said.

"Out of my way. I'll do it," Abby said as she rushed forward.

Tony got up and stepped aside so Abby could take his seat. Once she did, he leaned over her shoulder to see what she was doing.

Abby did a search for places in the area. She looked at a few of the icons that popped up and then clicked on one. "There's an abandoned warehouse about a block away from Kort's place.

Ziva immediately picked up the phone to get the director down there.

Tony, meanwhile grabbed a pen and paper and jotted down the address. "What are the odds that he was that close the whole time?"

"A man like Acosta probably would have found that amusing," Ziva said after hanging up the phone. "The director and Gibbs are on their way down.

Tony pocketed the address and then grabbed his gear.

Jenny and Gibbs made it down seconds later. "What do you got?" Gibbs asked.

"Possible location, Boss. I've got the address, it's not far from Kort's apartment," Tony said.

"Let's move," Jenny said before rushing towards the elevator.

"Ziva, you're driving. I wanna get there as quick as possible," Gibbs said, knowing she'd get them there the quickest.

"I will get us there under an hour," Ziva said. It was technically a two hour drive, but she could make it in much less.

"DiNozzo, call the local LEOs," Gibbs said as they all rushed to catch up to Jenny. He was not going to make Tim wait any longer to be rescued. God only knew what had already happened to him. He wanted him out of that hell by the time they got there.

"On it, Boss," Tony said, having already taken his phone out.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Tim groaned in pain. He hadn't felt so much agony in eighteen years. Along with the broken bones and possibly ribs, he also had multiple stabwounds. There were the ones in his arm and leg, as well as another to his side. Acosta had given him that one the last time he came through. It wasn't deep enough to kill him, at least not right away, but it hurt hell. He tried not to move, but that was almost impossible given the way he was restrained.

Tim wanted it all to stop. He longed for the moment when Acosta would finish him off, just as he had years earlier. He was grateful that it would end tonight. He could not survive this. Even if by some miracle, he was rescued, he knew he wouldn't be able to deal with the aftermath. He'd barely lived through it the first time. He couldn't do it again. At this point, he preferred not to be rescued.

Just then, the door opened again. Tim prayed that this was it. He prayed Acosta wasn't there to torture him more, but to put him out of his misery.

Acosta smiled at him evilly. "Well, this sight is positively amazing. I wish we could continue it, but it's time to wrap it up."

Tim sighed in relief. The horror that had been most of his life was going to end now and that gave him solace. If there was an afterlife, he could be reunited with his family and hopefully let go of all the pain. If not, well, it would still be better than this. The only thing he really hoped was that Jenny never learned who he really was. She didn't need that pain. Let him just die as Timothy McGee.

Acosta took out a gun and pointed it at Tim.

Tim closed his eyes and waited for his life to stop. Before that could happen though, there was a loud bang he knew well. The breaking down of a door. He opened his eyes just in time to see the SWAT team enter the room.

"Police, drop the gun!" one of them yelled.

Acosta raised the gun higher ane want to shoot Tim, only to be shot himself.

Tim watched as the man who took everything from him fell lifeless to the floor by his feet. For a minute he wondered if he was imagining it. He was in enough pain that he thought he could be delirious. But when one of the officers came forward and released his hands, he knew it was real.

The officer looked at Tim in horror. "Good God. Let the paramedics in!"

With his arms free, Tim was able to slump against the wall. He continued to stare at Acosta. The man who murdered his family and tortured him to the brink twice was dead. He was satisfied with that. The world was finally free from that man and his family finally received justice. Tim just wished he was dead too.

"You're gonna be okay, Agent McGee. The medics will be in soon," the officer said.

"Why do I always come out of these things?" Tim asked no one in particular.

"What?" the officer asked confused.

"I should've died tonight. Actually, I should've died when I was a boy. For some reason the universe won't grant me that peace," Tim said.

"You don't mean that, man. You'll be okay. We're gonna get you to a hospital," he said.

Tim didn't respond. He closed his eyes and began to pass out.


End file.
